


In From the Rain

by ArcherHybrid



Series: Labor of Love [8]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-06
Updated: 2014-02-06
Packaged: 2018-01-11 09:28:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1171440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcherHybrid/pseuds/ArcherHybrid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kili is locking up shop one night when a pretty little red-head lass shows up at his doorstep</p>
            </blockquote>





	In From the Rain

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the AU FanFic challenge at kiliel-library

“Have a great night!”

After the last of them leave, he locks up for the night and flips the open/closed sign hanging on the back of the door.

Then he proceeds to do what he does every closing shift; put his ear buds in and scroll through playlists on his iPhone until he’s satisfied with the one he wants, then goes about cleaning up. This is all just mundane – scrub the counters, clean the espresso machines, load the dish washer, take the trash out back and mop the tile floor. The usual. Lather, rinse, repeat.

But tonight was a change in his normal routine.

A heavy knock startles Kili away from his chores. When he looks up, he sees a young red-head standing just outside the door. The broad, open window gives him just enough of a glance to see her at full frame; those boots of hers had seen better days, as had those clothes. No doubt she walked here considering the condition she’s in, and the way her red hair is weighed down across her shoulders.

He’s used to seeing people come by after closing like this but usually it was just a homeless beggar looking for a hand out. This woman appeared to be neither.

Kili fished into his pocket for the key. Once had the door unlocked and open, he and the girl stared at each other for some time, before she pleaded with him to let her use the phone. He directed her to a pay phone in the back. She muttered her thanks as she passed by him.

He watched her for some time, unable to take his eyes off of her, or the disheveled state she had the infortune to find herself in. Did she have some sort of domestic? She didn’t appear to be sporting a ring on her finger, not that Kili could see from this distance. A lover’s spat with her boyfriend then? Not that it was any of his business but when someone shows up after closing looking like that, a woman no less, he had to wonder.

“Can I help you with anything, ma’am?”

She hangs up the phone on the receiver, “No,” she says whilst shaking her head, but she begins to shiver and this time without instruction, Kili sheds his Dickies hooded jacket and hands it to her. Again, she’s muttering her thanks as she pulls the jacket around her shoulders.

He over turned a chair. “Sit down,” he continues, “I’ll make you some tea.”

“N-No, I…”

But before she could get her sentence out, Kili was standing behind the counter already. She let her eyes wander around the café a bit before she slinked her body into the open chair. In her wandering, she ends up looking out the window. It’s raining still, though not quite as hard as it used to. And she shivers again, before tugging the jacket even tighter around her frame.

When Kili returns, a steaming cup of Earl Grey latte is placed in front of her, and he’s sitting in a chair he’s over turned at the same table. “What’s your name, miss?”

“Tauriel.”

_Tauriel._

Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

Kili let it all soak in, and then he introduced himself as, “ _Kili_ ,” and proceeded to ask her what is was that brought her out this late at night. They talked, and they talked, and pretty soon their conversation was turning into something more than just a question of why she was here and what put her in this position in the first place.

Turns out he plays guitar. His favorite band was Dropkick Murphys, he loved Guinness beer, he was trying to quit smoking, and he’s worked twelve different jobs in the last five years. He also lives with his older brother, who worked as a chef at a diner for the past three years. The brothers lived in a two-bedroom flat over the café, and the owner was their landlord.

Tauriel was pre-med. She wanted to be a nurse. She wanted to help people. And she was godmother to a little boy named Eldarion, whom everyone called Darion. She loved to paint, and to read – her favorite set of books was _The Hunger Games_ – and she loved nature.

They ended up chatting up so much and for so long that both nearly missed the blonde standing outside the door. Her ride was here. Tauriel thanked him for everything, and insisted on paying for the tea, but he declined and said it was on the house. She left smiling. And when Kili was cleaning up before heading home, he found a folded up slip of paper under the tea mug. After unfolding it, he found a phone number scribbled out in black ink.

He immediately plugged the number into his mobile once he got back to his flat, and called her the very next day.

Their first date was at a coffee shop.


End file.
